Jars: Reflections on the widow's oil

Reading: 2 Kings 4:1-7
1 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"
"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

Am I the jar? Is it me that feels like my resources are nearly gone? Perhaps God has spoken to me through someone I trust saying, "Gather all your emptiness, then begin using what little you have." Do I fail to see God's provision because I don't take the first step of bringing all those jars of emptiness to Him?

Maybe it's a lesson I can share with those who depend on me. It may not make sense, at least at first, but sometimes God's guiding isn't for the whole path ahead, just the next few steps. Does God ever intend that I am in desperate need? Only if it's a recognition that the need is for Him. So what am I waiting for?